Longford V Meath

Every other game has thread. So why not. ? Longford are a mean animal In pearse park. But Meath look like to be finally getting to how Andy envisaged them to play. Meath to win but not by much. And set up a game with the Dubs :)

It's the first time since 2014 that Longford will have home advantage for a Leinster SFC game and it'll really suit them. The supporters need to get behind the team from the start and create an atmosphere.On the pitch itself, Longford were very unlucky to miss out on promotion and have a few decent performances under their belts. Meath had a hit and miss league campaign but will have gained confidence from avoiding relegation and then winning the O'Byrne Cup.

Longford will need to keep Donal Lenihan quiet and hopefully Sean McCormack, Robbie Smyth and Rian Brady can do well at the other end. It took a free kick competition to settle the O'Byrne Cup semi final and even though there will be some changes to both teams, i don't think there's a lot between them so I think (and hope) that home advantage and a good vocal home crowd will get Longford over the line by 1 or 2 pts

Replying To Long.Dub.Glic: "It's the first time since 2014 that Longford will have home advantage for a Leinster SFC game and it'll really suit them. The supporters need to get behind the team from the start and create an atmosphere.On the pitch itself, Longford were very unlucky to miss out on promotion and have a few decent performances under their belts. Meath had a hit and miss league campaign but will have gained confidence from avoiding relegation and then winning the O'Byrne Cup.

Longford will need to keep Donal Lenihan quiet and hopefully Sean McCormack, Robbie Smyth and Rian Brady can do well at the other end. It took a free kick competition to settle the O'Byrne Cup semi final and even though there will be some changes to both teams, i don't think there's a lot between them so I think (and hope) that home advantage and a good vocal home crowd will get Longford over the line by 1 or 2 pts"

We have a few injury concerns coming into this game and as is often the case with Longford, particularly when we have the bones of a decent team, our squad is not deep enough when 1/2 players are out of action.

That being said having missed out on promotion down to one game the last two years, two good runs in the obyrne cup, our usual big scalps in the qualifiers and the fact that the backbone of the team have won a leinster minor c'ship and gotten to maybe 2 u21 leinster finals, should indicate along with home advantage a quietly confident side.

By no means will we take this game for granted no matter how good or bad Meath have been in recent times, They are still a mile ahead of us with regards the playing pick and reosurces they have available to them. This is not an excuse before the game even starts but I have always been proud of what Longford bring to Championships year in year out. We have one of the smallest playing pool in the country but we will always give it a right go.

Doubt whoever wins this game will get past Dublin, all you could hope for would be the winners go to croke park and try scrape a decent game/result and head into the qualifiers with a bit of confidence and who knows after that.

Pearse Park is a cracking place for a championship game especially on a sunny day as any Dublin fan who travelled in 2006 can testify to (as well as leaving with their tail behind their legs) so I hope we get a good game of football and a showcase that people might sit up and notice that leinster football isn't quite dead!

Replying To Long.Dub.Glic: "It's the first time since 2014 that Longford will have home advantage for a Leinster SFC game and it'll really suit them. The supporters need to get behind the team from the start and create an atmosphere.On the pitch itself, Longford were very unlucky to miss out on promotion and have a few decent performances under their belts. Meath had a hit and miss league campaign but will have gained confidence from avoiding relegation and then winning the O'Byrne Cup.

Longford will need to keep Donal Lenihan quiet and hopefully Sean McCormack, Robbie Smyth and Rian Brady can do well at the other end. It took a free kick competition to settle the O'Byrne Cup semi final and even though there will be some changes to both teams, i don't think there's a lot between them so I think (and hope) that home advantage and a good vocal home crowd will get Longford over the line by 1 or 2 pts"

No doubt home advantage will be a huge boost to longford, and with 31 counties cheering you on also. But I don't think this Meath team are going to be complacent. In Reilly, O'Sullivan and particularly lenihane we have a potent attack. The biggest joy of Sunday was that for first time in a fair few years , when Reilly had a off day, it wasn't notable (now he contributed plenty to defense and off loaded lots of ball, and seemed to be involved in plenty) but scoring boots were not on. O'Sullivan lenihane, James McEntee (probably all 3 could have got mom)The desire, the no panic when down to 14 then 13 was something out of old Meath style. There was a obvious game plan, McMahon seems to be getting back to his best, we have a phenomenal young player in Thomas O'Reilly who we can bring from bench, half backline has been Meath main problem for number of years, we now have a settled hb line , the return from long term injury of O'Brien and Curran also very important and adds hugely to the team. With menton and Kennelly in midfield we also have a decent line there. Also Ben Brennan is a real work horse at 11, and is always good for a point or two. Taking that all into consideration, I just think we will sneak a win, but it won't be easy.

Replying To Toney: "Beating Longford in their own backyard would probably be our most notable championship win since Kildare in 2014. That's how far back Meath have gone."

Longford have nearly twice as many championship wins as us over the past three years and against some better teams. They've beaten Louth, Down, Monaghan, Offaly, Carlow and Clare during that time. We've taken the scalp of Louth twice, Sligo and Wicklow.

Replying To Toney: "Longford have nearly twice as many championship wins as us over the past three years and against some better teams. They've beaten Louth, Down, Monaghan, Offaly, Carlow and Clare during that time. We've taken the scalp of Louth twice, Sligo and Wicklow.

The odds are wrong for this one.

Meath should be underdogs heading to Estadio da Pearse..."

Don't forget Derry in Derry twice ;-) (When they were decent)

Thanks for acknowledging though! It is refreshing to see other teams respect the achievements of smaller counties like ourselves that so often go unnoticed. I think beating Monaghan in CLones the year after they won Ulster was the biggest Scalp!

Longford @ 5/2 at home against an average Meath team are a steal, there's very little between the teams in terms of quality and home advantage could easily swing it. I'll remain hopeful that we can get the job done but it could scarcely be called an upset if Longford beats us.

Replying To Htaem: "Longford @ 5/2 at home against an average Meath team are a steal, there's very little between the teams in terms of quality and home advantage could easily swing it. I'll remain hopeful that we can get the job done but it could scarcely be called an upset if Longford beats us."

Ahh keep the faith. We will win. Won't be easy. But slowly and surely we are getting there.

Replying To Htaem: "Longford @ 5/2 at home against an average Meath team are a steal, there's very little between the teams in terms of quality and home advantage could easily swing it. I'll remain hopeful that we can get the job done but it could scarcely be called an upset if Longford beats us."

Replying To royaldunne: "Ahh keep the faith. We will win. Won't be easy. But slowly and surely we are getting there."

I always admire your optimism royaldunne, it's always nice to see positivity and of course it seems to really bug a lot of posters here aswell, which is an added benefit. But honestly I see this as a tight game, I know we're favourites and rightfully so, but the gap between the teams is only marginal and Longford will feel this is a great chance to beat Meath.

Thanks for acknowledging though! It is refreshing to see other teams respect the achievements of smaller counties like ourselves that so often go unnoticed. I think beating Monaghan in CLones the year after they won Ulster was the biggest Scalp!"

Replying To Htaem: "I always admire your optimism royaldunne, it's always nice to see positivity and of course it seems to really bug a lot of posters here aswell, which is an added benefit. But honestly I see this as a tight game, I know we're favourites and rightfully so, but the gap between the teams is only marginal and Longford will feel this is a great chance to beat Meath."

We need a post on this thread from royal poster, furlong......an indept, statistical analysis of the two teams, and a final prediction!!!!

(for my fellow longfordians, go onto royals forum and read some of his posts... Fantastically researched stuff, Although I'm no expert on meath county and club scene!)

Meath by at least 5. We've not beaten Meath in league or championship in my lifetime (that's a long time!!) They just seem to be the one team we can never get to grips with. We still concede goals at crucial stages and don't score them, not a good combination. Having said that if the sun shines it'll be a great day out in the Park and should be a big crowd.

Keep writing us off, it's the way we like it. Meath always seem to play better and put in a performance when written off and not expected too. So the more doubting us the better.

The match itself is going to be a close one, and could be the game of the championship too date. Think we'll prevail with a few to spare in the end, just think if Lenihan, Biiggy and one of Sully, Mcentee or McMahon are on top form we'll have too much scoring power.

Replying To Meathmadlad: "Keep writing us off, it's the way we like it. Meath always seem to play better and put in a performance when written off and not expected too. So the more doubting us the better.

The match itself is going to be a close one, and could be the game of the championship too date. Think we'll prevail with a few to spare in the end, just think if Lenihan, Biiggy and one of Sully, Mcentee or McMahon are on top form we'll have too much scoring power."

Has anyone on this thread actually written ye off? I'm seeing a lot of talk on this thread and over in the Meath forum about progress being made over the last while. Without sounding smart, what progress is this? Genuinely wondering how you are measuring this? I would love to see Meath back amongst the top table, it's good for football in Leinster and the championship as a whole.

I know for us progress would be seen as a solid league campaign in a div2 or a promotion from div 3 in the leagues and either a win or 2 in the leinster or a good run in the qualifiers is always used as a barometer for progress. We havnt gotten to a Leinster Semi-Final in over 30 years, which even for a county of our size is an absolute disgrace. Given a few occasions in previous years if we had been on the other side of a Leinster draw we could have made a few finals but if my granny had balls etc etc.